Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson memorably called out ESPN during a telecast of an exhibition game last summer.
“You guys are finally starting to notice us,” Anderson told ESPN’s Boog Sciambi. “We’re on ESPN. I thought y’all guys forgot about us.”
Fast-forward to Sunday night on ABC, where Anderson led off the finale of the Cubs-Sox series with an opposite field home run on the first pitch. The blast ignited a five-run inning that including two more home runs by Eloy Jiménez and Andrew Vaughn in a sweep of the Cubs — and kicked off Sox Week on a grand note.
What’s Sox Week?
It’s our unofficial designation of the team’s first big moment in the national media spotlight since the start of the rebuild in 2016.
The Sox take on the Minnesota Twins tonight on ESPN, where center fielder Luis Robert returns to the lineup for the first time since his hip flexor injury in May. Then comes Thursday’s much-publicized Field of Dreams game against the New York Yankees from the famous ballpark in a Dyersville, Iowa, cornfield, which will be televised nationally by Fox Sports after being delayed a year by the pandemic.
Like an off-Broadway show moving to the Great White Way, the Sox have a golden opportunity to show the rest of the nation what they’ve been missing.
ABC, via ESPN broadcasters, got the memo, and spent most of the Sunday Night Baseball telecast extolling the virtues of Saint Tony La Russa, the Sox manager who apparently reached sainthood status while we weren’t looking. Analyst Alex Rodriguez called La Russa “awesome” and informed us he had a law degree, while also discovering during their pregame interview in the Sox dugout that La Russa had “the fire in his eyes,” like Alabama head coach Nick Saban. It’s hard to tell on Zoom, so we’ll have to take his word for it.
This Sox team can go all the way, A-Rod said, if La Russa “continues to play the mental games” that have worked so well. He didn’t specify which mental games, but the proof is in the win column. Play-by-play man Matt Vasgersian declared all the concerns from fans and media last winter over how the 76-year-old La Russa would relate to the bat-flipping, fun-loving Anderson were “nonsense” from the start.
A-Rod wisely pointed out the Sox have a stellar rotation but conveniently forgot to mention Carlos Rodón, who is 9-5 with a 2.38 ERA and threw a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians in April. On-field reporter Buster Olney bailed him out by informing the audience Rodón also was a big part of that great rotation, and in fact was an All-Star.
There was also a brief discussion on the Yermín Mercededes controversy in which La Russa called his since-demoted designated hitter “clueless” for homering on a 3-0 pitch against the Minnesota Twins in the ninth inning of a Sox blowout. Olney again added some context, chiming in with the fact that several Sox players defended Mercedes for defying the “unwritten rules” La Russa lives by. Anderson’s great response to Yermínator controversy — “Tony’s like the dad ... we’re the bad kids that don’t listen, but we all get along” — didn’t make the conversation.
Along with the deification of La Russa, the broadcast turned into a veritable lovefest for the Sox at the expense of the Cubs, whose sell-off was briefly handled in the early innings and then virtually ignored. During an in-game interview with Cubs manager David Ross, A-Rod called the former ESPN analyst the “perfect man, the right man (in the) right spot” to handle the rebuild of the downsized Cubs. He didn’t say why Ross, who had never before managed before leaving the ESPN booth in 2020, was so perfect for this new task of development.
Ross informed the crew from the dugout there were “a lot of tears and hugs” at the departures of the Big 3, but added they all deserved to play on a playoff-contending team. Vasgersian decided to ask a pressing question about Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier, the brother of Wrigley Field grounds crew member Dan Kiermaier.
Unfortunately, Ross had to stop the announcer to actually do some managing, so the question was never finished. Ross then played weatherman and delivered a brief forecast that called for rain at around 7:30 p.m. Since it was also the anniversary of the first night game at Wrigley Field, a discussion of the iconic ballpark was in order.
A-Rod insisted Cubs fans show up whether the team wins or loses — unlike the other 29 MLB teams — and claimed some of his teammates and friends wanted to be Cubs back in the day but didn’t sign there because of all the day games. Names, please?
That probably was as much attention as the dismantled Cubs deserved, and with the game out of hand it was back to showing some belated love for the Sox, albeit with an in-game infomercial for former ABC broadcaster and recent Ford Frick award winner Al Michaels. At least Michaels pointed out that 2020 Frick honoree, Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, was the one who fired La Russa as Sox manager in 1986.
“He won’t go to Cooperstown as a GM,” Michael cracked of the Hawk, a fitting epitaph for Harrelson’s disastrous one-year stint running the show.
Of course, no Cubs-Sox game on national TV is complete without showing the video highlight of “the Punch” — the moment during the 2006 City Series at the Cell when Cubs catcher Michael Barrett clocked Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski on a play at the plate, starting a brouhaha.
A-Rod informed viewers Pierzynski was “loved by his teammates, despised by his opponents,” but said the perception of Pierzynski as a villain was “way off-base.” In truth, Pierzynski cultivated his role of a villain to great effect, which is why he’s so beloved on the South Side. Former Sox manager Ozzie Gullen once said: “If you play against him, you hate him. If you play with him, you hate him a little less.”
Rodriguez obviously is an easy target for Twitter and wiseguys because he’s constantly saying things without citing evidence, as when he mentioned his only concern about the Sox’s championship dreams was their plate discipline. The Sox are seventh in the majors in walks and middle of the pack (16th) in strikeouts. Their .332 OBP is fourth in baseball. As most Sox fans know well, the biggest concern has been middle relief, which is why general manager Rick Hahn just acquired Craig Kimbrel and Ryan Tepera from the Cubs.
Olney also pointed out the Sox play in an easy division, which could hurt their chances when playing better teams in October, as it did for Cleveland for many years.
The telecast had many great visuals, and ended with two classic scenes: Jiménez uttering his catchphrase — “Hi mom”— and a couple Sox fans holding up a blue “L” flag to antagonize their North Side peers.
It was a great start for Sox Week and now it’s on to the Corn Game.
